Homemade Chocolate Fudge Poptarts

I am pretty excited, and not because it is Friday. Ok well, I am definitely pretty excited it is Friday, but I’m more exited about sharing these poptarts with you.

They have been on my “list” since way back in February when I tried to make them and failed.

Like miserably.

It was a failure that was so bad it took me a good seven months to muster up the courage to try them again.

Don’t you just love how dramatic I am? I swear, everyday I write this blog I become more and more dramatic. What’s the deal? Honestly, I was never this dramatic growing up.

Err, ok fine. That’s probably a lie. I am sure if you asked my mom or my dad they both would tell you a different story, but I was their only girl, so really what do they know about dramatic girls?

Nothing.

I made it is easy for them. Now Asher? Yeah, let’s just say I am going to look like and angel (and trust me, I was not). The girl is the definition of dramatic. Yikes.

Anyway, I tried to make these in February and they just were not right. Too big, too much filling and too soft. Almost brownie like, which was really good, I mean they all got eaten within a day or so, but they weren’t poptart-like.

They were not like these.

These may not look absolutely perfect, but just blame that on my poor decorating skills, my ability to smudge the frosting and my lack of ability at staying in the lines. I tried, I really tried, I actually tried on three separate batches. This is the best you are gonna get.

Unless of course the incredible and amazing royal icing and cookie decorating queen, Bridget wants to come and give me a lesson.

Yeah, then I think I could give you guys a much prettier poptart, but for now these will have to do.

My mom did not buy many boxes of poptarts growing up, but when she did it would always be the chocolate fudge. I think is was one of the only junk foods I really liked. I was always an oddly healthy eater. Think whole grain turkey sandwich and carrots for lunch and raw broccoli and more carrots after school. Oh, and I always ate my vegetables at dinner.

I am telling you, I was odd.

But I did like the chocolate fudge poptarts. I mean, what is not to like? It’s a chocolate pie crust filled with chocolate fudge. They were the perfect treat every once in a while when on the rare occasion my mom did not have a pan of homemade cookies lying around.

The taste and texture of these is so close to the original, but better. A little softer and a lot more fudge in the middle! Also, the frosting on top is more of a chocolate royal icing than the hard chocolate coating the store-bought ones have. I just had no clue how to achieve that, but it’s ok because this frosting is better, and not filled with a gazillion ingredients that you will never be able to pronounce.

They are pretty easy to make too, which is always nice. And seriously, don’t worry about making them perfect. It will drive you insane. Unless you’re a cookie decorating pro I just would not worry about it.

My only note is to make sure you seal the dough together really well. I have no idea why, but for some reason I used my fingers to seal most of the poptarts. It worked, but I definitely had a few ooze out some of that awesome fudge filling. So be smarter than I was and use a fork to crimp the edges together.

Oh, and even more importantly – do not try putting the frosted poptarts in the toaster. It does not work, I know from experience…..

Yeah, my brain was in an “oh my gosh, I need more fudge poptarts in my life” state and totally did not think clearly. However, if you want to be able to simply pop them in the toaster, skip the frosting. The unfrosted poptarts work great in the toaster!

Frosting

2cupspowdered sugar

2tablespoonsmeringue powder

1tablespoonvanilla extract

2tablespoonscocoa powder

3-6tablespoonswater

2ouncesdark or milk chocolatemelted

coarse salt or sugarfor sprinkling

Instructions

Start by making the fudge filling. Stir together cocoa powder, brown sugar, milk or cream, salt and half of the chopped milk chocolate. Place in a small sauce pan and cook over medium heat, stirring, until chocolate is melted. Cook mixture at a low boil, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat, add remaining chocolate, butter and vanilla and stir until smooth. Set aside to cool and thicken.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, sugar and salt. Add chunks of the butter and mix with a pastry blender or your fingers until the mixture is crumbly. Gradually add the water until the mixture is moistened and a dough forms. Place the dough in between two large sheets of parchment paper or on a lightly floured surface and roll out into an 1/8-inch thickness, using the parchment paper or working on a lightly floured surface.

Cut the dough into rectangles, about 6 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches. Place a heaping tablespoon of filling on one half of the rectangle. Lay the other half of the dough over the filling and seal the edges by crimping with the back of a fork. Repeat until all the dough has been used, saving the scraps and re-rolling to make more rectangles.

Bake the pop tarts for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool completely

While the poptarts cool make the frosting. In the bowl of stand mixer, mix the powdered sugar, meringue powder, vanilla, cocoa powder and 3 tablespoons water for about 7-10 minutes on medium speed, until peaks begin to form. Stir in the melted chocolate. If your frosting seams too thick, thin as needed for outlining or flooding by adding more water. I found 5 tablespoons of water was good.

Spoon a thin layer of the frosting on top of cooled poptarts. Allow frosting to harden 10 minutes and then if desired sprinkle with, course salt or course, sugar. Place on a baking sheet and allow the tart to harden uncovered, about 2 hours.

Try as I might, my daughter is pretty much a living, breathing poptart. She can’t get enough and they are like her ultimate comfort breakfast food. So I’m really glad you posted these! She will FLIP when I make my own at home. 🙂

Oh my gosh…be still my heart. I still CRAVE pop tarts and cannot wait to try these fudge ones. I’ve made the brown sugar cinnamon ones before and loved those…but chocolate and pop tarts, wow, when those combine: AMAZING!

Your family must think you are a magician when you present them with something like these poptarts. These are poptarts that I would be happy to feed my kids – well, maybe not for breakfast, but definitely as an afternoon treat. 🙂

Wowza, these look amazing! I’ve never made a homemade pop tart (and have only tried bites of the store bought ones–again, I didn’t have those growing up either, are we the same person? haha), but OF COURSE, these would be about a million times better.

Best Friday post ever! I love pop-tarts! I’ve made them at home before and I too tried putting them in the toaster–never again. I find that just resting them on top of the toaster , icing side up, they get nice and warm without making a mess!

I’m a weird healthy eater, too. I’ve never had a Poptart ever. Not like that is a travesty. ha. But these look so yummy! And they aren’t like store-bought Poptarts which are filled with junk and fake ingredients. Pinning!

Beyond impressed. These are amazing Tieghan. OH my gosh. I used to eat these every morning when I was younger. These and the s’mores. and the raspberry. Yeah, I loved pop tarts! Can’t believe you made them at home, I’ve never even attempted. Thankfully you did 🙂

I just made them and they are very dry. Is there something you can suggest in helping me make mine more like yours. I realize I didn’t make them as thin as you but this is my first time making any kind of pastry. The frosting was awesome. The filling my family did not like but they don’t like dark chocolate so I am going to use chocolate only next time. Thank you so much for posting this I enjoyed the experience as I am new to cooking.

Mine were not dry at all, but it has been very moist were I live lately so I am sure that helped. To help moisten the crust add one tablespoon of water at a time until the dough feels moist and form a solid ball. Then roll the dough out between two sheets of parchment or wax paper with a little flour as possible. Just use enough flour to keep the dough from sticking. This should help a ton and I hope it works so much better for you! As for the fudge filling, I cannot believe your family did not like it! Whoa! Try it with all milk chocolate this time, hopefully that should do the trick! Glade you did like the frosting though!

Thanks so much for making these and I hope your second batch turns out better for you!!

I had the same issue as Amy. We found the dough really difficult to form and to roll out. We ended up adding quite a bit of water, one tbsp at a time just to get it to hold together. Once baked, the dough seemed off. The filling was phenomenal, but the dough was kind of dry and bland. Any thoughts?

Ahhh my gosh Tiegan! KILLING ME! I’ve probably had pop tarts about twice in my life because my mom never bought them, and even though I probably wouldn’t like the “real ones” much now if I tried them, I still crave the taste I imagine/remember in my head. These look spot-on perfect. They’re on my list to make for sure!

Found these on Foodgawker, Seeing the photo made me click because they look just like the real thing, only better. The only pop-tart that I eat is the Chocolate. Can hardly wait to make these, or should I say, my daughter will probably be the one because she’s the baking queen in our house. Can’t wait to try the chocolatey goodness. I bet I could eat the filling and frosting up with a spoon also! Oh my!! Thanks so sharing.

You are a DOLL! There are my husband’s favorite flavor. I’d rather make them myself than buy and figured I’d have to discover out my own recipe. I discovered yours on Tastespotting and couldn’t believe my eyes. He’s going to have to fight the kiddos on these. I can’t wait to try them out.

Found your blog through pinterest and I must say this looks amazing. I definitely plan on making them. I cannot imagine they will last very long but I was wondering if you have any storage suggestions. I have never made homemade pop-tarts ( I have seen some recipes for strawberry ones but I think I have been holding out for a fudge recipe) so I do not really what would be best.

Hi Katharine! So happy you found my blog and these poptarts! I stored mine in a sealed container in a single layer and they lasted over week (I made over three batches so I had so many). Not sure if they would last longer in the fridge, but you could try that too!

OMG YES! I am a 14 yr old boy and I love to bake, I was thinking of what to bake and what I like to eat and pop tarts came to mind, I scattered the internet to find a recipe and here looks like what I need. Hope mine turn out as good as yours! 😀

Okay- I admit that they’re not the ‘prettiest’, but that’s the best part! They’re obviously homemade and that’s what’s so great! You wouldn’t want them to all come out so uniform that they lose that rustic touch that tells you they weren’t made in a massive factory by some automated system! Homemade is the way to go- and I’m sure it’s much, much cheaper! But those chocolate fudge poptarts are a weakness of mine sometimes. I don’t care for the edges that aren’t covered in the frosting or stuffed with filling (they get kind of dry and boring) but yours don’t look like they’d be boring at all!! I’m anxious to try these next poptart craving! 😉 Thank you for sharing!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I have been working on finding homemade versions of goodies usually bought at the store, which pop tarts were on that list. While I have found some recipes for pop tarts none were for my sons favorite type of pop tart that is until now. You are one of my new online foodie heroes. I am looking forward to finding out what other yummies you have created. Thank you again.

I’ve got to say that these look positively delicious! I am going to have no choice but to make these now. Even better is no high fructose corn syrup! I love chocolate fudge Poptarts but ever since I started cutting as much HFCS out of my life as I could, I notice this awful aftertaste when I consume it. Meaning now the actual brand Poptarts are ruined for me. D: Still… I bet the kids will flip once I make these for them! 😀

Could they be maybe warmed up for a short time in the mircowave since the toaster is out? Maybe a toaster oven?

I was really excited to try making these, but the dough just hated me!! I started out making it and it was just so dry it was pretty much just lumpy powder even with the water, so I added more, but it was then really lumpy and felt like chewing gum. :/ So I tried again and that one was also really dry, so I added more water, not as much as the first try, but this was still too dry and barely stuck together, but I went with it anyways. The fudge was AMAZING and I did not want to bother with the icing because I couldn’t deal with any more mess ups today, so I dipped them in the extra fudge, there was like half of it left!! The pop tart was doughy and had no flavour, just tasted like flour, not like chocolate. 🙁 Maybe I just have bad luck but this recipie was a disaster for me. D: Any ideas on how to make them better? I probably won’t try this one again, but if anyone else runs into these problems I’m sure they would like some help! >.< I ended up just putting the extra fudge in vanilla ice cream and made milk shakes. :3

I am so sorry you had such problems with the dough. Dough can be really tricky, especially if you live in a dry climate. I love in CO, so it is very dry. I am surprised your dough was too dry, are you sure you mixed the butter into the dough properly? Also, the dough can be a little dry, but it should roll out into sheet for you. It is really hard to tell what might be the problem without being right there with you. Again, so sorry. Glad you liked the filling though! 🙂

I was totally stoked take these, however it was a huge fuss and not fun 🙁 while making the dough, I added tablespoon by tablespoon of water being cautious but it turned out I needed a whole cup of water which seems like too much but it seemed to need every last drop. I actually tried two doughs repeating the process except sticking to only half a cup of water like said directions. It was the same flop as the first attempt, so I stuck with the first ball of dough. Anyway, the texture of it seemed funky and not right, grainy kind of, and while rolling out it was not at all like rolling out pie crusts. But maybe I’m just being ignorant here. It was not rolling out well at all for me. Anyway by the time they came out of the oven I decided not to frost them because of the hardships they were giving me. So I tried one- not like I wad hoping 🙁 the crust wasn’t very chocolaty and fun, it was like a bland bread. I’m sorry, I totally feel like a failure, and wish so bad mine turned out like yours because yours look amazing and obviously inspirational. With the way yours look I was expecting them to taste like bigger better classier poptarts. But they were more of like a sad unfantastic dried out bread, which is confusing because of how much butter and chocolate it takes. I might have to wait 7 months too before I powerhouse this recipe again :’-(

How long do you think these can be stored? Do you think they can be frozen? I am taking dyes out of my sons diet and these would be great as he loves poptarts and I am always buying the organic ones which are not cheap

Wow! I recently started buying poptarts since my local supermarket stocked up on American goods, and my favourite are the chocolate fudge ones. Thank you for coming up with this recipe, I can actually make poptarts at home 😀

I just finished making these and they were awesome. The filling is great by itself. I sat and licked the bowl clean while they were baking. I didn’t make the icing for the top though because I had a lot of filling left over. I accidentally rolled the dough a bit too thick but I poured the leftover filling over the top and they were fine. I didn’t have any problems with the dough at all. I saw others commented their dough was dry but mine was great. I put all the ingredients in the food processor and the dough mixed up in a few minutes. I added water tsp by tsp instead of just adding 1/2 cup like the recipe. I might have put more than 1/2 cup in it. I recommend for others just add ice water 1 tsp at a time until it is moist enough it doesn’t crack. These poptarts were really tasty and I’ll definitely make these again. Once they cooled I put half of them in some freezer bags in packs of 2 and froze them. I don’t know how they’ll be after being frozen but I’m hoping they’ll be fine. They’ll be a nice chocolate fix for a rainy day.

Hi, these look great and I can’t wait to make them but I’m having some trouble with the measurements as I’m from England and we generally work in grams and ounces. Would be great if someone could help me, I’m absolutely dying to make these!

This is in reply to Amee (I can’t seem to reply to you directly): I’m in Germany and weighed all the ingredients when I made the poptarts. Pastry and filling came out perfectly. I used a different icing, so I can’t give you any measurements for that, but here are the amounts in grams for pastry and filling: Pastry: 420 g flour, 14 g cocoa, 12 g sugar, 170g butter, 120 ml water. I used a teaspoonfor the salt, because it’s such a small amount. Filling: 30 g cocoa, 72 g brown sugar, 160 ml milk or cream, 168 g chocolate (I used Callebaut 35%), 28 g butter. Again, salt and vanilla were measured with a spoon. Hope that helps! And Tieghan, thank you so much for this recipe. I love it!

I tried these, and they were so yummy! The recipe worked out really well, but the dough was just a little bit dry. Anyways, I just love the fact that somehow you find a way to reply to just about every comment on here. Thanks!

Hi! I live in Ecuador and we cannot get poptarts here. My kids jumped for joy when i ound your recicpe! I just tried my hand at these with half hearted results though! Filling is awesome but had many of the same issue with the pastry, just didnt come out chocolaty enough. Do you think I can add more cocoa powder ( as i said..I live i Ecuador, land of chococlate but it seems the cocoa powder I used is not as potent!) The boys of the house had no complaints though! I am glad i discovered your blog!

chill these and make some really thick pie filling, or buy some, and make a thin layer in the middle of two about the same thickness as that then chill in the fridge then dip half in coating chocolate, let it set, then dip the other in half of a contrasting chocolate. hahahah omg

I have a theory regarding the differences in results between people. After trying the recipe myself i also found the dough to be horrendously dry. Living just a few hours from the coast in a fairly humid environment i found it impossible that the air could be drier than Colorado. But CO does have a very high elevation and i know elevation does things to baked goods so maybe that’s the cause of the discrepancy.

Anyway with a bit of research i was able to tweak the recipe for us ‘dry dough’ folk and it came out phenomenally. All it took was 1 egg blended together with 3 Tbsp milk to make the dough malleable. I also had a splash of vegetable oil from before i thought to add the egg, so 1-2 tsps of it won’t hurt anything.

Due to comments that the dough was bland i also added another 1 Tbsp of cocoa powder, and about an even amount of sugar and cocoa mix. Note that the dough was still only lightly flavored and semi-sweet. If you want it more like the stuff at the store you’ll need a lot more chocolate and sugar, maybe even going so far as to melt down some chocolate chips.

I should also note that i used dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate for the filling, and cut down the brown sugar to 1/4 cup. This gave the tarts a stronger chocolate flavor without so much sweetness. Kids might not enjoy them if they’ve ever had the packaged version before but as someone who doesn’t like too much sugar I thought they were amazing. And the leftover filling made a great dip 🙂 I nixed the frosting because i wanted to be able to toast them,

Thanks for the recipe. It was a lot of work but totally worth all the effort.

The concept of a homemade pop tart was intriguing. But for me, these were far more trouble than they were worth. While the filling on its own was good enough to be eaten with a spoon, I did not find that the overall end product was tasty enough to justify the amount of time and effort it took. I had high hopes, but I still prefer the store bought variety. Thank you in any case for sharing a recipe that you’re excited about with all of us. Perhaps others will enjoy it more than I did.

The dough needed way more than 1/2 cup of water to come together and it was very hard to roll and handle once I finished adding liquid. I rolled the dough out to 1/8 of an inch but it took more than 10 minutes to cook in the oven. The filling is yummy but the flavor of the crust isn’t that nice.

Meet Tieghan Gerard.

I’m Tieghan, the recipes you’ll find here are inspired by the people and places I love most. I try to live simply, eat seasonally, and cook with whole foods. My hope is to inspire a love for amazing food, as well as the courage to try something new!